The Hollywood Reporter - 31.07.2019

About Town

People, Places,

Preoccupations

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 28 JULY 31, 2019

MASTERS: COURTESY OF SAMMY FABISCH (2). VARVATOS: MICHAEL LOCCISANO/GETTY IMAGES. KURTZ, SITRIN: COURTESY NEW YORK ACADEMY OF A

RT.

china and menus from the era.
THE CINERAMA DOME Fences had
to be mended with the ArcLight
after Tarantino was miffed when
The Hateful Eight was bumped
in 2015 to extend the run of Star
Wars: The Force Awakens. “There
was a little bit of bad blood about
that, but the Cinerama Dome,
it’s just classic, and he could
not pass up that,” says location
manager Rick Schuler. “If you
stay tight on it, it still retains
everything that was there. We
put a lot of work into changing

the bulbs and getting it so we
could turn on certain parts of the
marquee.” Buildings around the
Dome needed digital erasure, he
adds: “In 1969 it was surrounded
by parking lots, this beautiful
stand-alone.”
CIELO DRIVE For the enclave where
Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski
live next door to DiCaprio’s Rick
Dalton, Schuler faced a challenge:
One resident on the private road
vowed to fight the shoot tooth
and nail. “I did what I do best as a
location manager, which is to say,
‘OK, I hear you,’ ” recalls Schuler.
“‘And now I’m going to go quietly,
and get altogether nine neighbors
on board,’ which I did. ... I think
he kind of went, ‘OK, good job. You
got me.’ ” For Dalton’s pad, a well-
known character actor offered up
his house without a single con-
tract. “Leo loved it,” says Ling. “He
felt it was so his character: the
big, carved Spanish bar, a man’s
bachelor kind of house.”

Since 2017, art adviser Joyce Varvatos, whose

clients include Ron Meyer and Grant and Lisa

Heslov, has mounted a summer pop-up gallery

in the Hamptons. “Last year, Neil Patrick Harris and his

family were the first in the door,” says Varvatos, wife of

designer John Varvatos. While she typically deals in works

by A-list artists like KAWS, Varvatos’ pop-up (Aug. 1-4)

features 11 lesser-known names, all past or current fellows

of the New York Academy of Art, with most works selling

for less than $10,000 — a reminder of her early days on the

’90s scene, she says, when she showcased young artists in

“these great kamikaze gallery shows.” — LAURA VAN STRAATEN

AN INDUSTRY ART GURU’S HAMPTONS POP-UP

Art

Scene

Producer and culinary enthusiast Guy Shalem’s gatherings draw a showbiz

crowd that’s hungry for ‘a reinvention of the ego’ By Lindsay Weinberg

Mastering the Industry Dinner

A

t one of Guy Shalem’s Meeting of the

Masters dinners, a soccer pro might be

seated next to a real estate agent who

might be seated next to one of Hollywood’s top

execs. These high-profile but disparate guests

are directed to look under their plate or seat

cushion to find a charm — shaped like a but-

terfly or maybe a cat (actor Jim Rash found a

rose). Finding your “soulmate” with the matching

emblem is a way to spark fresh conversation.

(And occasional friction: A former studio head

at one dinner was seen in an uncomfortable

exchange with a pro-Tr u m p author.)

The concept took root in 2006, when Jane

Lynch wanted to host dinners for cast and crew

(Wendi McLendon-Covey, Eric McCormack) of

Lovespring International, a Lifetime comedy co-

created by Shalem. “She knew of

my culinary skills,” he says. “We

wanted to have a family, intimate

time after the show.”

In the years since, such guests

as execs Garth Ancier, Sony’s

Nina Lederman and AEG’s Kevin

McDowell; writer Bruce Vilanch;

producers Howard Rosenman and Keeping Up

With the Kardashians’ Jonathan Murray; and

actors Carolyn Hennesy, Alec Mapa and Amy

Acker have dined in groups ranging from six to

45 at private homes around L.A. Shalem began

charging to cover costs about a year ago (from

$85 to $245) at Murray’s urging: “I said, ‘You’re

really good at bringing different kinds of people

together,’ ” explains Murray, who has hosted two

dinners. “I encouraged him to make a business

of it.” That’s also when the event was branded

as Meeting of the Masters: Attendees cannot be

guests, or “masters,” two dinners in a row. They

can either skip an event or be a “servant,” helping

in the kitchen before joining

the buffet. Says Shalem, who in

June took on Broadway pro-

ducer Scott Mauro (To o t s i e) as

a consultant and is preparing to

launch an LLC: “It’s a really inter-

esting way of making it about

the reinvention of the ego.”

“The set of Spahn Ranch and George’s house
that they built was an almost identical replica,”
recalls Bruce Dern, who plays the owner of the
movie ranch occupied by the Manson Family.
The real Spahn Ranch (above) was destroyed in
a 1970 fire, so a Simi Valley park was used.

On view

are works

by Zachary

Sitrin,

including

this painting,

and Will

Kurtz’s Mrs.

Beazley.

Bruce Vilanch (in glasses) attended the July 20 Meeting of the

Masters dinner; the next, featuring Tuscan-Mediterranean fusion,

is Aug. 3. Shalem (below) has been cooking for 30-plus years.

SUPPER

CLUB

RECIPE FOR A

SCHMOOZE

Varvatos